President Obama calls for comprehensive review of Hasan actions

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address to call for a comprehensive review of last week's shootings at Ft. Hood that left 13 dead and dozens wounded, and to urge Congress not to use the event for "political theatre."

Mr. Obama acknowledged that military service carries dangers but called it "unthinkable" that so many would die in a hail of gunfire on a U.S. Army base in Texas, with a fellow service member pulling the trigger.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, has been charged with the shootings and faces a military trial. The president expressed confidence that justice will be done in the case and that an ongoing investigation will examine Maj. Hasan's motives as well as steps that might have averted the killings.

"If there was a failure to take appropriate action before the shootings, there must be accountability," Mr. Obama stressed. He said the U.S. needs to quickly evaluate the facts surrounding the shootings at Fort Hood and make changes to prevent a similar attack from happening again.

Congress will want to conduct its own investigation and should do so, mr. Obama added. But he said "all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion here in Washington," saying "the stakes are far too high."